There’s More to Storytelling Than Telling A Story

Storytelling enhances many important facets in the development of young children. It fosters word discovery, repetition, memory, pronunciation and best of all, it creates a special bond between you and the children.

There could be a problem when books are not easily accessible to give you a story to work with but don't let that stop you. You don't need to have a physical book. You can make up your own story and instead of reading it - tell your story to your group.

How do you create a story? Remember back to your high school years and all the compositions you wrote. It will all come back to you. Think up of a character - a boy, a girl, an adult or an animal. Now think of a story line - what do you want your character to experience? Where will the experience be? When will it happen? How will your character go about it? What about feelings? Why is this happening? What tone do you want to project? Does your story have a moral or a teaching? This may seems like an extensive list but it's used to guide your character into your story. Jot down a few notes to help you along.

Now try it and tell your story into your own words. If you'll be repeating this story, don't try to memorize it, remember a few key points in your story. Let your story be told and sound like as natural as possible. You can practice in front of a mirror to see where and how you should add drama into your story.

"What makes a great story is to tie in images, details, rhymes and repetitions," says Dianea Carroll Phillips a storyteller and language arts teacher. "Turn on your imagination, let yourself go and tell that story."

In your story, you must transmit emotion, such as laughter, sadness, embarrassment...just to name a few. Your tone of voice is also an instrument to use, soft low voice for a night time story and a loud voice for an outdoor story. Dramatize and empathize tone, the actions and the mood.

It is normal that you stumble over your words on your first try, but the second time will be easier and so will be the third, and so on. The more you tell and create stories, the better you'll get and better ones will submerged. Trust yourself and trust your abilities to create great stories. If you are having problems telling your stories to your group, let the children fill in the blanks. Make it an interactive guessing game, by involving your children you are not failing but rather you are finding a unique style. You can use props

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